Hi... Zoom/Telephoto lenses can be quite expensive... I would really love a good zoom lens from 300mm to about 500mm... I would like it to fit onto my D800. I have read some info that a few none-Nikon lenses can work well but then some information I have read contradicts the use of the lens or provides confusing information.... Once I feel which ever lens is ok for my needs, I will search for a second hand one.... No need to buy a new one for the amount of photos I take... I would love a Nikon Zoom to be honest but they are very expensive....

Destiny wrote:Hi... Zoom/Telephoto lenses can be quite expensive... I would really love a good zoom lens from 300mm to about 500mm... I would like it to fit onto my D800. I have read some info that a few none-Nikon lenses can work well but then some information I have read contradicts the use of the lens or provides confusing information.... Once I feel which ever lens is ok for my needs, I will search for a second hand one.... No need to buy a new one for the amount of photos I take... I would love a Nikon Zoom to be honest but they are very expensive....

Thank you

Destiny..

WHY a 300-500 zoom at all? Get a 85mm and start doing business gigapixel-wise. On the D800 it gives you about 5 Gigapixels spherical.That impresses clients very much - IF you provide excellent quality . . . You definitely will not earn appropriate money with much bigger ones. And then thereÂ´s processing the images . . . .

So my advise (i know you will not like what i say): stick with what you have and make it a business - first of all providing excellent quality . . not XXL Gigapixels most likely nobody in your region will pay for appropriately.

106 cm that a neat 40 inches +......and that is the Eagle not Destiny..........you won't see to much of those birds in Düsseldorf Klaus (or you're at a turkey farm but somehow that is not the same ).

Now to shoot (ehem, in the Frans Lanting way) a bird like that while keeping the bird in it's comfort zone (with 106 cm birds with fangs and beak and 260 cm wingspan, that's always a good idea) you need at least a 500 mm or even longer. But the hughe sensor allows for some serious cropping. Now having said that does mrs. Destiny have a knack for the gym.....since byceps training maybe needed as well (wax in, wax out also works and John can drive to work in polished mobile all the way and all the day).

Al that aside a serious tripod is also needed preferably with a good strong head and one that is fast and stops at a dime as it keeps lens and camera balanced, a gimball head like these is ideal.

Now the tele.....it needs to be autofocus since animals rarely listen to modelling commands (I know Mother Nature is a bitch). So 8 years ago I would have said no change in hell your gonna swing it. But the game of photography has changed 100% since Nikon/Sony began upping the ante and cherning out great sensors like the one in the D800. You can go to 6400 ISO without a doubt in mind, and you will still get a great shot and the Aussi empire is kinda kissed by the sun so lux usually is not a problem year round (am I right or not Destiny).

So a FF Nikon F mounted 300 till 500 it has to be.....now aperture wise 2.8 or 4 is nice but 5.6 will do.

But Des that will mean a trip to the bank......those are American dollars not Australian dollars I'm affraid. Now if you put a 36 Mpixel sensor behind it....well this new 80-400 zoom would do the trick....it's not cheap eather but it wont break the bank and at 1.3 kg it won't break you back either.

Wow Ed.. that 80-400 looks awesome.. but oh man.. its soo expensive.. but perfect.. We walked on a mountain ridge last weekend and could see a billabong with some Platypus playing in the water.. We were determined to capture a photo of them but they were just too far away.. I left John to trek down which was bit scary but the little things heard me coming long before I was close enough to capture a shot.. I could see John and baby on the ridge looking very small.. I waited for a while but they were long gone and it was getting dark so no good.. We needed to go.. The evening is the best time since so many Australian creatures and birds come out... I almost tripped over an Echidna walking back. I do now know who was more scared, it or me.. .. Easy to take a photo of a Kangaroo at the golf course.. I might do that soon. Some of them are huge.. I also want to take some wide pano photos of the water falls coming out of the ridges cascading down into the valley.. Little rock wallabies hang out there too...

If its not one things its the need to buy even more.. I am guessing my little very light carbon fibre tripod is too light.. oh hum.. So much needed ... John said we really need to buy a new Mac first.. This Mac is not even mine.. Its John's.. I don't even have a computer of my own.. ;/ Yes Ed... I think you are right, I need to go to the Gym to build up mussels to carry it... oh but hang on.. I have a husband for that.. I will search out for secondhand 80-400, I might get lucky...

Artisan New wrote:great sensors like the one in the D800. You can go to 6400 ISO without a doubt in mind,

Well - i wouldnÂ´t second that. Good quality you can achieve up to 800 ISO. Beyond that itÂ´s just acceptable. For the best quality i wouldnÂ´t go over 400 ISO.Using 3200/6400 you loose lots of details in fine structures - as bird-feathers or bear-fur or so.

In the end you might use a very expensive high-class tele-lens . . . and then you give away itÂ´s optical performance by using very high ISO . . .

Anyway i would prefer a non-zoom tele. 300mm is a great - and relative affordable - average lens. Using an excellent (not cheap) converter you can make it 400 or even 600mm and keep better quality than pushing up the ISO.

All in all the D800Â´s excellently clean 36mpx providing good dynamics gives you reserves to make crops from an image and alone by this achieving more "tele"

I personally never go over 300 ISO for most things.. 100 for indoors always. I was wondering if there was some kind of attachment that could fit with my 14-24.. Its a great lens but provide little in the way of zoom.. If I could fit a middle lens to it, but not sure if this even possible, bit like an extension....

Destiny wrote:I personally never go over 300 ISO for most things.. 100 for indoors always. I was wondering if there was some kind of attachment that could fit with my 14-24.. Its a great lens but provide little in the way of zoom.. If I could fit a middle lens to it, but not sure if this even possible, bit like an extension....

Destiny..

To me ISO is always last in line to get "rewarded", it has to serve other things before it will get anything.Shuttertime and aperture are first in line, I give them what they need. If there is not enough light I just turn up the iso. If I need to choose I rather have noise in my pictures then shake or incorrect focusdepth.Modern camera's do rather fine with higher ISO. Of course, when there is enough light I also like to lower ISO.

Regards, Hans KeesomI stitch and render for other photographers. Price: 25 euro or less, no cure no pay. If you want to concentrate on your business let me do the stitching for you. Free TB of Dropbox space when you have more then 250 euro business a year.

Absolutely.....if I can manage with shuttertime and aperture I shoose those of course. But shooting handheld with a 400 is a different ballpark from shooting with an 85 on a Seitz mount. Then you will eventually have to creep up the ISO and the Nikon D800 can do that to 3200 ISO easily. Of course you will loose some fine detail (which can be limited if you shoot RAW btw)....but you are shooting for "on the wall" so for print. And that means with a Nikon D800 you can still get a 13 x 20 inch out of if without loss of VISIBLE detail Klaus (unless you go to exhibitions with magnifying glasses strapped to your forehead but somehow I doubt that ).

Shooting gigapixel means aiming for pixel detail and that is quite a different game alltogether, first you have a stirdy (at least in my case I have not tried or even seen other motorized panoramamounts so I can't comment on that ) platform to shoot from so you close down the aperture and increase shuttertime to match.

But shooting long tele's handheld (up to 600 mm) will mean going at shutterspeeds of less then 1/2500 of a second. Now in order to achieve some DOF you have to stop down to F8 to F11 (in my case) and that means ISO's of up to 1600......now that means no pixelpeaping possible but great in print.

Des's solution on a shoestring budget is simple:

1) Go a gym and find the inner greyhound in Des......2) Learn to think print (which means pixelpeaping has to be trown out the window since it is quite useless)3) Heath Klauses advise and shop for a 300 fixed.....you could even use a manual lens (a bit tricky for shooting wildlife but hey Baron Hugo van Lawick and Frans Lantink shot wildlife without an autofocus so why can't you, you'll need patience but that is essential in wildlife anyway. And for Nikon the 300 mm 4.0 IF ED is about the best you can get or you can insist on AF and buy this baby secondhand:

I will play with the ISO.. i would rather lower the fstop than raise the ISO.. but we are all leaning.. Different lenses perform differently... Some let in more light than others... I will use my 14-24.. Love that lens but the zoom is not fantastic..

Oh my goodness.. The image of the moon is awesome.. True, it is a beast.. The eBay one in mint condition is really nice.. I am sure if the cap was not available, I could get it printed in 3D plastic.. And will this lens fit on my D800 ok.. My husband will go nuts at this one.. but its still expensive... Seems that its more of an investment though.. It can only go up in price or not go down much at least.. Oh man, I would love to give it a try out.. Even the box would need wheels.. lol..

When I first came to Australia, my husband took me to Ayers Rock Uluru.. I have never seen soooo many stars in the sky.. Just amazing... and very very clear... I would have loved a great camera but we just had a Canon G3 at that time.. Not great.... Soo many shooting stars.. A great camera and lens would have been wonderful...

The lens that Klaus put up from eBay looks like its in new condition.. We would love to bid for it but I think there is only 3 days to go.. We want to wait until the last day since if we bid now, it might begin bidding by others... Is it in Germany?.. It would certainly do the job we are looking for.. Some lenses cost $$$$ but this one is awesome and although expensive its still very good value.. I am sure it would not go down in price too much.. I just hope the images represent the real condition... How can I find this out.. Some people on eBay put up photos of when it was new, not as it is now..

So, I am assuming it will just fit onto my D800 with no issues.. It even has end caps.. I could try to find a box for it later.. Many of this types of lens look like they have had a lot of use but this one looks in perfect condition...

Destiny..

English...

With a focal length of 300 mm succeed spectacular images. The huddled perspective, the shallow depth of field and, fold relative to the standard lens 6 magnification, can be used as the extraordinary photographic images are produced. The internal focusing (IF) makes focusing fast, convenient and secure. ED glass (with extremely low refractive index) on the chromatic aberration is almost completely and therefore the photographer gets pictures of "jumping sharpness" as a well-known journalist once wrote. A sliding hood is installed.Specifications:

Destiny wrote:With a focal length of 300 mm succeed spectacular images. The huddled perspective, the shallow depth of field and, fold relative to the standard lens 6 magnification, can be used as the extraordinary photographic images are produced.

(i have an even older one (non ED) and did this shoot with it: http://gigapan.com/gigapans/97639 - not as tack-sharp as it really is because i used too long exp. time and the shots got a little blurred by vibrations)

Klaus

Last edited by klausesser on Mon Sep 16, 2013 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I contacted the lens seller at eBay.... Seems to be in genuine condition as seen.... Its very nice..

Destiny

Hello, the condition is used, but itâ€™s fully working. No dents, no scratches on the glasses, no dust, no haze or fungus. Youâ€™ll find pictures attached. You can buy the lens at once in eBay. PayPal is of course accepted.

That is great work for an 300 non ED, Klaus.....bought a copy of that lens on my then F3....was not that pleased with it so it went in the big grey trunck.....until I sold it and bought a 300 IF ED second hand.....that is a much nicer lens......I sold it when I could buy a new 75-300 zoom (not to be confused with the 70-300 plastic not so fantastic).....since 300 at the time was a focal length I didn't use to much.....now the 75-300 was and is a great lens till 250.....above that is does what the original 300 did....it was soft in microcontrast. Now today that is not to much of a problem but in the film area (that in my case lasted till 2010) it was.

Greats, Ed.

P.S. the lens you are linking to is the IF version....not the ED non IF version. Not your fault Nikon made a whole bunch of 300 back then...

1) Low end the 4.5 AIs non Internal Focussing non ED......sold for around 1100 guilders (500 euro) back in 1981 (I know I bought one )2) Then a mid range 4.5 appeared non IF but ED (and not only a small element but the front lens as I recall).....that was about 750 euro (I know I wanted one )3) A few years later they brought the last of non AF's the 4.5 IF ED.....